"They punched me, hit my private parts with sticks and asked...why do you support Bobi Wine?"

The National Unity Platform (NUP) Coordinator for Kasese district, Samuel Masereka has narrated the ordeal that he went through during detention.

Masereka, who was visibly frail, with wounds on his feet, had to be supported to the NUP headquarters in Kamwokya, where he told journalists that while under detention, he was beaten all over his body, including his private parts.

“They caned me, in every part; even the private part, they did not spare it. They punched me several times, and right now I have severe pain here,” Masereka said, touching his abdomen.

According to Masereka, he was arrested in Kasese on December 7, 2021 and taken to Kasese central police station, before being blind folded and taken to what he later realised were the CMI offices in Mbuya.

The NUP Coordinator claims that he never thought that he would see the light of the day again, having been assured that no one could save him while at the CMI offices.

“We can kill you, we have that right,” one of his tormentors allegedly told him.

He added that his tormentors would sometimes boil water and pour it over the particular parts that they wanted to hit.

“They would do this repeatedly,” he said.

“At one time I asked them ‘Why can't you take me to court if you think I have committed a crime?’ because they'd held me for over 48 hours without trial, but they told me that the 48-hour rule doesn't apply to them.”

Masereka says he was later released on January 28, 2022.

Police reacts

Police mouthpiece Fred Enanga told journalists at the weekly police presser at Naguru that Masereka should know where to report torture.

Enanga said that if indeed he was tortured, Masereka should go to the police and make a statement or head to the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC).

“If they prefer to report to NUP, NUP does not have investigative powers or powers to prosecute,” Enanga said.

NUP Spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi said in a statement that many of their supporters remain in detention and several others have been released with torture marks despite “having committed no other crime save for supporting their party.”

Ssenyonyi urged security officers to remember that NUP is a registered political party with rights to mobilise.

“We are not a rebel group like Museveni was with his NRA, but when we go out there this is what they do to us,” Ssenyonyi said.